Chatham resident wins $514,314 on football bet

Jan 5, 2018

A Chatham man has won more than half a million dollars with football picks through the OLG's sports-betting game POOLS. The winner, Raymond De Ridder, got his card of pro football predictions right in the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s sports-betting game, Pools on December 10 and 11.

The 33-year-old winner is a school teacher by profession. Ecstatic on winning the windfall, De Ridder told the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation staff that he couldn’t believe his luck. The fortunate punter has been playing Pools and tracking football for a while, and it is a Sunday ritual to him.

The winner said he chose the underdogs for Monday’s games and won all the afternoon and evening games. He admitted with a laugh that to even think of winning the bet at first was crazy. He described it as an intense and expressed thrill to have won.

The winner of half a million sum had bought his Pools card at the Piggy Mart at 295 McNaughton Ave. E. in Chatham. It was a $5 Pools wager wherein one has to pick a sport and select the winners of a series of games.

The Chatham-based winner called the results of 15 fixtures and was the only winner to receive the entire prize pool. He described the winnings as a “game changer” at the OLG’s Prize Centre in Toronto. The winner of the sum told OLG that with the windfall, he can pay off his bills now and this will make his life easier. He added that he is looking forward to the journey ahead.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation or OLG is a Canadian Crown corporation of the Government of Ontario, Canada. The corporation’s operations include province's lotteries, charity and Aboriginal casinos, commercial casinos, and slot machines at horse-racing tracks. OLG's prize centre is based out of Toronto, while the corporation's headquarters is at Sault Ste. Marie.